I think that the Priest you remember was Fr. Paul Fiore. He didn't drown, it was one of his brothers who had tried to save another brother who was disabled.
Fr. Fiore had epilepsy and used to have petit mal seizures on the Altar.
He was transferred to a hospital in Jamaica as Chaplin and died at a young age. I sent Donny a copy of his prayer card from his viewing that was not put on the web site.
I remember that also,father fiore was a very handsome priest,I remember that sometime at mass he could not speak anymore..it true that he lost his brother in a drowning accident....
If you look at the pictures on the OLL web site of Neighborhood Friends and scroll to the first picture of The Cadets you will see Fr. Fiore at the front.
Fr. Fiore and Fr. Baretta and a friend of Bill's family Fr. Dempsey, married us at a High Mass on August 27th 1960. I often look at the pictures and wonder how it is possible that 50 years have gone by soooo fast.
It's the people that made our neighborhood what it was, the kids we went to school with, the sisters and priests and the merchants where we shopped............I moved to brooklyn from manhattan. My uncle's wife lived there and after he got married at our church, they moved to ozone park, later moving to stone avenue between eastern parkway and dean street............we moved from soho in manhattan to brooklyn and moved out in 1964. I went back recently for the rally to save the church in April...........my heart is broken as to what has happened to our neighborhood......the school lot is full of broken beer bottles, weeds are growing through the cement, the lot has been strewn with garbage..........I will keep my memories of when I lived there close to my heart........
Father Paul Fiore is one of my ancestors and I am trying to find out more info about him and his family. I know his sister(?) Constance/Connie still lives in New York (Parksville, NY), I believe and the last name is Bulzone (found this out thru ancestry.com). Father Paul's father's name was Joseph and had brothers Frank, Patrick, Martin, Anthony and Joseph Jr. A distant relative told me that Fr. Paul was not there when Frank and Patty drowned. It was Frank, Patty, Tony and the retarded son "Junior". Junior was said to have pushed one of the brothers in the NY river while they were fishing and the other brother died trying to save him. Only Tony and Junior were left and Junior was sent to Letchworth Village (asylum). Paul did die of complications from a brain tumor. Does anyone remember anything more about his sister(?) Connie? I'm trying to trace my family tree and her name comes up as Connie/Constance Hunter Bulzone. I can't find out who "Hunter" was and if this is a relative of mine. She broke off contact with her husband Ralph's side (Fiore is my married name - strange coincidence!) of the family so I'm forced to search thru the internet Any memories you might have would be greatly appreciated. I might be able to find an old pic of Father Paul and post it. God Bless You All.
Look at the pictures of Neighborhood Friends on this site, and scroll down to the picture of a drum corps (band)Loreto Knights.
Fr. Fiore is in the front row. I believe that the picture was taken earlier than date posted.